Since many years, the European social partners EFCI and UNI Europa raised awareness and tried to influence the Commission on this issue. Therefore, the Office for Infrastructure ans Logistics of the Commission in Brussels (OIB) proposed to organise for the second time a joint conference (the first took place on 18 June 2013). The goal was to introduce the subject to Commission employees, mainly to overcome the resistance of the "clients", i.e. the Commission officials occupying the offices in Brussels.

The EFCI and UNI Europa, in collaboration with DG Employment and OIB organised this event to stress on the diverse advantages of daytime cleaning for clients, companies and the cleaning personnel. At this occasion, EFCI and UNI Europa presented the actions initiated within their Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee, especially their "Joint Declaration on Daytime Cleaning" of March 2007. Then the Belgian social partners (FGTB and ABSU-UGBN) presented their joint campaign of 2012-2013 entitled "To clean during daytime? A world of differences”!

Finally, the representative from OIB described how the principle of daytime cleaning is increasingly put in practice in the Commission premises in Brussels. It was confirmed that OIB is gradually implementing the approach of daytime cleaning in the Commission premises. OIB moreover announced that the next framework contract for cleaning of its premises (expected for 2015) will include this concept and the required technical modalities related to it.

On 16 and 17 September, the German member association BIV organised in Stuttgart its biennial congress on the future of cleaning industries and the newest sectoral trends in Europe.

At this occasion, the Director held a workshop that was divided into the three following main subjects: day time cleaning / the new EU rules on public procurement / the enforcement Directive of the Posting of Workers’ Directive.

FIDEN is an association that assembles contractors active in industrial cleaning and FM. It also includes all sectors helping cleaning businesses to offer the best quality of services at a fair market price and to deal with customers’ demands for cleanliness and hygiene: manufacturers of cleaning machines, tools and detergents; sector-oriented consulting firms; regional and national associations of cleaning contractors. For further information, you can visit the FIDEN website via this link: http://www.fiden.org/en/

At the occasion of its 58th annual congress entitled “Impact of European and National Politics on Industrial Cleaning – What‘s ahead?”, the EFCI Director and the German MEP Hermann Winkler (EPP), expressed their opinion during the session called “New EU Parliament and new EU Commission 2014 – New Politics for the Cleaning Industry?”

The “Liaison Forum”, which is organised several times per year by DG EMPL, offers a regular platform of information, discussion and exchanges of experience on subjects of interest for EU social partners’ representatives. This meeting was dedicated to the following issues:
· Recent and forthcoming developments for European social dialogue and industrial relations
· Situation of sectoral social dialogue committees’ meetings for the last quarter of 2014
· Preparation of the 2015 meetings’ calendar
· Good practices in relation to Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees’ work programmes
· Presentation of statistics for plenary meetings in 2012 and 2013
· Public consultations on the revision of the Commission's Impact Assessment guidelines and on the Commission's Stakeholder Consultation guidelines
· Commission "Green Employment Initiative” (see the Secretariat note of 17th July 2014)
· Study on the implementation of the 2007 European social partners' autonomous framework agreement on violence and harassment at work

The EEN, which is organised several times per year by BusinessEurope, offers a regular platform of information, discussion and exchanges of experience on issues of interest for European employers’ associations. During this meeting, the following subjects were discussed:

The Commission organised this meeting with EU social partners’ representatives to discuss its communication on the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 published on 6 June 2014 (see for all details, the Secretariat note of 10th July 2014).

The presentation was given by a representative of the Unit "Health, Safety and Hygiene at Work" within DG EMPL and was followed by a debate during which many opinions were exchanged. While the trade unions’ representatives stressed the lack of ambition of the new framework, most of employers’ representatives estimated that the Commission has chosen the appropriate means to improve Health and Safety of millions of workers across the EU.